Abstract: Using a unique city-level panel on the daily air pollution index (API) and fine-scale meteorological data from 2009 to 2013 in China, we examine the existence and the magnitude of spatial spillover effects of urban air pollution in Chinese cities. Our spatial analysis results indicate that (i): there exist spatial spillover effects of air pollution in China: a city’s average API is expected to increase by 0.40-0.51 if the average API in its surrounding cities increases by one unit, depending on model specifications; (ii) an increase in gasoline price can effectively improve urban air quality; (iii) high levels of precipitation and strong winds can mitigate air pollution, while the temperature effects on air quality vary by time of day; and (iv) without controlling for spatial spillovers of air pollution across regions, coefficient estimates of explanatory variables will be biased. Our findings suggest that pollution control policies must be coordinated among cities and provinces to effectively abate urban air pollution.

Abstract: Using a mathematical programming model, we estimated the potential biomass supply from crop residues in China at various exogenously-given biomass prices and identified the areas that are likely to produce crop residues. Our analysis indicated that China can potentially produce about 153.0–244.2 million dry metric tons of crop residues per year when biomass prices are larger than $90 per metric ton. Rice straw is expected to account for about 47% of total residue production across the different biomass prices and residue production scenarios that we considered. Corn stover and wheat straw contribute 28% and 25%, respectively, to total biomass production in China.

The United States has seen rapid recent development of shale gas. What are the factors behind the notable growth in the past decade? And what does it mean for shale gas development elsewhere in the world? RFF scholars Alan Krupnick and Zhongmin Wang examine the history of the US shale gas boom in a new RFF discussion paper.

RFF’s Anthony Liu and coauthor Junjie Zhang examine the uneven development of sewage treatment plants throughout China and explore the relationship between tax incentives and investments in such infrastructure.